Web Analysis By Morad

aggregation + convergence + distribution + identity + participation

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Amazon.com: It never has been easier to have your own e-store!

This is getting interesting. Where almost every popular internet company is opening their platform to the public. I mean, look at what Google just did “Upload videos to YouTube via API”. But Amazon is pushing that a notch by offering its users the access to its actual tangible facilities “to the top of its online store mechanism”… interesting huh? Well, this service is called Fulfillment Web Service (FWS).

So basically not only will Amazon host your third-party online shop on its servers. It will now help manage hard stock for those independent outlets as well. Heck, it seems each and every passing day Amazon wants to do more of everything for everyone, doesn’t it? Totally. That whole A-to-Z shtick now seems as real as ever. Which doesn’t sound too bad, really, when one considers the success Amazon has had working the retail angle ever since its book-dealing days way back in 1994.

The details of the new Amazon FWS are pretty simple. The service launches with two APIs: “Inbound” and “Outbound.”

Inbound provides merchants the ability to create and send shipments to an Amazon fulfillment center (FC). This API includes the function to locate one or more Amazon FCs to receive particular products. The option to channel multiple storage centers is meant to provide merchants with the chance to fulfill and deliver orders to customers as quickly as possible.

The Outbound API works in conjunction with the Inbound service, and gives merchants the ability to complete shipment of products from FCs to customers. Outbound is where “fulfillment” really happens. The API provides all the functions to organize orders. This includes status check and cancellation.

There’s no question that Amazon FWS will spark the interest of many an independent Amazon seller. The option to integrate with Amazon’s sales and distribution systems is certainly an alluring prospect, and one that droves of small businesses will likely sign up for in order to provide a customer service experience more on par with Amazon’s full-fledged retail apparatus.

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